The present invention relates to a device for accommodating (keeping ready) billiard balls in spaces provided for billiards playing.
Billiard tables are provided in restaurants, game salons, etc., and customers conventionally pay for billiards playing. For releasing personnel from the difficulties of cashing game money, it is known to provide devices with a box-shaped housing which accommodates billiard balls and releases the same for playing upon insertion of coins. These known devices are conventionally mounted under the plate of the billiards table. Known devices have holding elements accommodating billiard balls, a coin receiver, an indicating element actuated by coins for showing the provided game time, contact elements with actuating members associated with the holding element, and a meter actuated by the insertion of coins and emitting a signal after expiration of a predetermined time.
The DE-GM No. 1,877,257 discloses a billiards time clock in which the billiard balls are located in the openings of the housing and cooperate in their immovable position with table switches. The latter interrupt a current circuit to an article and/or acoustic signal element, closes the current circuit upon withdrawal of one billiard ball and releases the signal element. It was proposed in this DE-GM to use a further switch in the respective current circuit, which can additionally interrupt the current circuit via a lever loaded by coins and thereby prevent the actuation of the signal element despite withdrawal of the billiard balls.